


2424

by Jacie_popslash (Jacie)



Category: NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-04
Updated: 2008-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-27 00:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/656028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacie/pseuds/Jacie_popslash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Future Fic where JC & Lance want to be together in a society that bans same-sex relationships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1.0 Lance’s Notes

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to bellamyrose for hand-holding & encouragement. Written for bassez_day 2008, using prompt #3) "How come you never learned the Golden Rule Don't talk to strange men, don't be a fool"

Books. One of the things I love most are books. Any sort of books. I find them fascinating. They don’t print books any more. The last book was printed well over a hundred years ago. That we know of anyway. I’m intrigued by history and science. Neither study is encouraged for me. I am to be a Politician. It is because I am fascinated with reading the books of the past that I got the idea to write my own book one day. A book that will fascinate the children who will live fifty years from now, or maybe in a hundred years. I want to print my book, too. Not just have it catalogued on the library computer main frame. I want to be the first person to print a book in over a hundred years. It will be costly, but others have paid a high price for their place in history as well.

My mother is an Educator. It was her encouragement that led me into the library of books. She loves books as well. It is a fine thing to read books online as most of the population does, but it is quite another adventure to wander through the forests of tall bookcases, filled with the volumes from the past. All sorts of books. Any books that were saved after the last great war, WWIII. There are hardback books and paperback. A few fragile newspapers survive, but they cannot be touched by human hands any longer. They are shielded behind plastic or glass. Few people are allowed in the actual library. I am because of my mother. My friend JC is permitted because of his job.

I’ve read much about the wars of the past. Some over land. Some over religion. Some over politics. Some for no apparent reason, other than some unknown hatred between people. I’m certain that the past has led us to our current society, which is divided into four classes. Religion and skin color no longer classify people. We’re classified by pedigree, by hair color and eye color. I don’t fully understand why, but from what I’ve traced out, the politicians who came underground during the last war had much to do with it. The politicians were the wealthy and the powerful people. And apparently the survivors among them were mostly blue-eyed blonds. 

The blonds are now the premier class, called the Alphas. Any child born of two Alphas is by pedigree also an Alpha. It’s mixed marriages that lead to having to petition for one’s class status. I was born to two Alphas, therefore both my sister and I are Alphas as well. The brown hairs are called Bruns. The red hairs, which are increasingly rare, are called Bri-Ads. Those with dark or black locks are the Dacarrons. 

One’s job is largely determined by one’s class. The Politicians, Leaders, Educators and Administrators are largely Alphas. I was rated a Politician from a young age. I had no choice. Some Alpha Administrator glanced over my pedigree and my transcripts and assigned me to that vocation. My father is a Politician. Like my mother, my sister was assigned as an Educator.

Bruns tend to be the scientific class. They are the Doctors, Nurses, Inventors, Mechanics, Physicists, Chemists, Biologists and the like. Bruns and Bri-Ads also are assigned to menial labor in the Alpha levels, as no Alpha would be allowed to dirty their hands. The really dirty work is left to the Dacarrons. They work with the machines that are repaired by the Bruns. They process the water and air for the rest of us and incinerate or recycle the trash and the dead. They live closest to the surface and are not even allowed in the deeper levels where the Alphas live. There is much fear of contamination from the surface. It is well known that the deeper down you are, the safer you are. At least, that’s what we’ve always been taught.

Back to my friend, JC. I’m not sure ‘friend’ is the correct moniker for him. He is more than that, but more I cannot say aloud. I almost fear even thinking it. In my mind I call him my lover, but even then, I whisper the word, afraid someone else will pick up on it. And that isn’t even correct. He is my love and we’ve had some short and sweet intimate moments together, but neither has actually penetrated the other. I was brought up to remain a virgin until marriage. I battle that notion as two men would never be allowed to marry. It was once allowed on the surface, but no longer. To perpetuate the population, same sex relations were banned long ago. Especially for Alphas. We are encouraged to breed more little Alphas to keep the species going and other things running smoothly. And of course, we need the others to do the actual work for us. It doesn’t seem right to me, really, the way things are. I like to pretend that when I’m a powerful Politician that I will be able to change things.

Anyway, JC. The first time I saw him was in the library. Our eyes met and he smiled at me from across the room. He simply sparkled with light and life and I was drawn to him. As if he had roped me with a powerful thought and pulled me across the room, I went to him. I went willingly. He introduced himself as JC and offered me a seat at his table where he was studying. Well, really, he was doing research. When you’re a student, you’re studying. When it’s your job, you’re doing research. I was fascinated by what I saw. He was studying some older volumes, volumes about life on the surface before the last great war which drove us below. The books on the table before him were full of pictures and data about life on the surface. He was drawing sketches and jotting down notes about animals, plants and weather.

I was still a student at the time, studying my college levels, but JC had a job. A new job. “They’re concerned about what’s up there and what’s going on down here,” he had confided. “Everything down here is getting stale, old. We’ve used up about all the resources we had access to, including recycling everything we could. They talk about the surface and wonder if it’s safe. I’ve been hired by Midland Mission Control.”

I had nodded. Many people were oblivious to the very existence of Mission Control, but being the son of a Politician, I had heard about it. The Politicians had argued and debated for years about what to do about our future and about the surface. Midland Mission Control, or MMC, had been quietly developed to study the surface and whether it was a viable option to return to the land above. The Politicians agreed to fund the project with taxpayer money, however, since there weren’t going to be tangible results for a few years, they kept the information about Mission Control fairly quiet.

After we met, we began spending more and more time together, often at the library. JC continued to do research for the upcoming mission and I did my college level thesis on the idea of returning to the surface. 

That was two years ago. Since then I graduated with honors, then became an assistant to my father and urged him to send me to MMC constantly to keep abreast of their progress. JC became the chosen pilot researcher for the primary mission, Destiny One. I was somewhat familiar with the mission objectives from spending time at MMC under the guise of keeping an eye on things and reporting back to my father. But I learned more from JC. 

From the day that we met, we became quick friends. I had invited him out for dinner to discuss the books he was researching. He spoke of what had been above at one time and we speculated on what we thought JC may find once his mission commenced. We spoke about it like it was a dream, something that we enjoyed talking about, but never really thought would come to fruition. At least I didn’t. It never seemed truly safe to me, this idea of sending someone back to the surface.

JC was excited and confident. He showed me the suit they designed for him and talked about his Research Pod, which he called ‘Kate’. The Pod’s official name was the MMC Vision. He constantly assured me that he would be fine.


	2. 2.0 Lance’s Notes

Shortly after I met JC, he introduced me to his best friend, Justin. Justin was an Alpha as well and had been assigned as an Administrator’s Assistant at MMC for his internship. He worked hard and was competent. Being JC’s best friend and confidant didn’t hurt his efforts either. The pair of them had an amazing rapport, often they could react to each other without exchanging words. Their teamwork put them worlds beyond the others. Justin soon found himself assigned to the Destiny One mission as well.

Between my classes, work and JC’s training, we met as often as we could. Sometimes Justin tagged along, other times it was just the two of us. It was in those private moments in my quarters that our relationship really developed. At first it was a brief touch here and there or an innocent brushing past each other. When we sat at my communication center, we were so close that our knees often touched. Shy glances followed, then more touching. We never talked about our relationship, or where we wanted it to go. One day we were at my communication center watching some old footage from the past, both leaning toward the screen with interest, and JC’s face kept getting closer and closer to mine. When I thought to move away, his arm reached around my shoulder, holding me close. Then I turned and our eyes met. I couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. I could only watched as he came closer, his head slowly tilting until he was pressing his lips against mine. One kiss left me breathless and wanting more.

We had to be careful, since same sex relationships were illegal. We had to limit our time and had to be careful of the messages we sent to each other, in case they were monitored. But we always found our moments. Sometimes even daring to allow our hands to touch underneath a table when we were in public. JC was always more daring than me. Being a Scientist, he could get by with more than I could. Scientists are supposed to be experimental and open-minded. As a Politician, I was expected to be serious and well-educated.

Still, I found myself falling in love with JC. Despite knowing I was expected to be with a woman, I only wanted to be with JC. The hardest day of my life was the day he left on the mission. I was there as he was suited up and escorted to his Pod. I couldn’t go to him or hug him. I couldn’t hold him or whisper into his ear. Before he put on his protective gloves, I noticed the ring I had given him on his finger. A Reporter had noticed it, too, and had asked about it. JC had only smiled and said it was a gift from his love. That brought a tear to my eye, one I had to quickly wipe away.

I watched as he was strapped into the Pod. I watched on the monitor how he gave the thumbs up sign, his smile still sparkling. I watched the launch, how the Pod was loaded into a launch tube and sent on its way. It disappeared so quickly, along with my JC.

Justin stopped by my quarters that evening to make sure I was alright. He found me drunk, but he stayed anyway.

At first the mission seemed to go well. JC was sending back reports and images of what he found. He spoke of sunlit days and starry nights, of plants and eventually some animals. We didn’t have animals underground. Few were ever brought down, and there weren’t enough of any one species to keep it alive for long. JC described the samples he was collecting. The Pod had robotic arms JC could maneuver to collect samples of plants and soil. Each sample had to go through a decontamination process before he could store it. There had been a great fear of bringing some virus, radiation or other disease back from the surface. Even when JC returned, he and the Pod would be under quarantine for a month, and still the samples would only be studied in a high security lab, where the scientists wore full suits to protect themselves until it could be proven whether the samples could be safely handled without such precautions.

And then the unthinkable happened. I was at my father’s office reading over some newly proposed bills when I began hearing a buzz. My ears picked up certain words like ‘Pod’, ‘mission’, ‘failure’. I quickly flipped my communication center over to the current events site that others were watching.

I gleaned the information from the Current Events Commentator. MMC had lost communication with the Research Pod, but only after JC had sent out his emergency code. They were getting no reading from his Internal Positioning Chip, or IPC, the identification chip implanted at birth. They feared the Pod had failed and JC had perished from exposure. The Commentator said they were talking about sending up a Recovery Team. I had heard enough.

My hands were sweating from panic as I quickly entered my security codes to log into my private communication system, the one I wore on my wrist.

**LB: Justin! What is going on?**   
**JT: It’s bad, man.**   
**JT: The Pod started malfunctioning and JC was having trouble controlling it.**   
**LB: Where is he?**   
**JT: I don’t know.**   
**JT: We’ve lost the communication connection.**   
**LB: Lost?**   
**JT: We’re getting no signal from the Pod.**   
**JT: They tried tracking JC by his IPC, but they can’t get a reading.**   
**LB: How could this happen?**   
**JT: He knew the risks.**   
**JT: He wanted to go.**   
**LB: He expected to come back!**   
**JT: They’re arguing about sending a recovery mission.**   
**JT: Maybe you should be here.**   
**JT: Convince them.**   
**LB: I’m on my way**

There were discussions. There were debates. There were arguments. In the end, it was decided that Justin would pilot the Recovery Mission, and I would go along since I had been trained as an Ambassador. Only behind the closed doors of the MMC was it mentioned that JC had reported possible evidence of people on the surface, but he had not made contact. At the MMC, they thought he may have been captured by the new race of whatever had survived on the surface after the war.

Justin and I went through six months of advanced training to learn how to operate the Research Pod and how to survive. They also told us we would each be given a capsule which would cause death within five minutes. Whether we used the capsule or not would be our choice if we became captured, injured or contaminated when we were above.

I had no intention of using the capsule. I intended to find JC and bring him back. Alive and well.


	3. 3.0 JC’s Journal

I lost Kate! I can’t believe I lost her! Well, she’s not really lost per se. She sank! I remember coming over the forest to this, this amazing body of water. I’m not sure if it was a pond or a lake or an ocean. We don’t have huge bodies of water down below. Not like this. There is nothing like this. And it was so amazing. I felt so drawn to it. I wanted to study it, so I flew the Pod out over the water. The water moves like it’s a living thing here. It rolls. It is so beautiful!

Then the Pod became difficult to handle and I lost power. I got out an emergency call as I tried to control her. We fell from the sky. I think it’s something about the propulsion units, how they react to the ground below, but the water isn’t solid. It moves and shifts, like it’s breathing or something. The Pod splashed into the water, then began sinking. Fast. I didn’t have much time. I grabbed the first aid kit and a food pack and opened the hatch. The Pod systems were dead, shorted out by the contact with water. I knew I would die, too, if I didn’t get out before it sank. I barely made it out. Then I tried to swim. 

Kate disappeared from my sight in a matter of moments. When she went down, I almost got pulled down with her, but I fought. The suit was holding me down, pulling me down, so I struggled out of it and let it go. Along with the first aid kit and food pack. I couldn’t hold onto them. I could see light above and tried to swim toward it. Swimming in this water is nothing like swimming in the practice lanes below. In this water, it’s harder to see. I couldn’t see the bottom. This water ripples and moves. It tugs at you and pulls you. I thought I saw land and tried to swim for that.

It seemed like hours of swimming with all my effort to make it into the shallow water. I couldn’t believe it when I felt something beneath my feet. My legs felt like jelly as I tried standing on them. I kept pushing myself toward the water’s edge. The water seemed softer here, like it was caressing the land as it washed across it. Like a lover’s delicate touch. Out further, I felt like I was fighting with it, battling with it. Here, it seemed almost gentle and welcoming. I kissed it. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I kissed the ground, then collapsed upon it.

When I awoke, there was a hand, fingers threading through my hair. And voices. I looked up and saw a Daccaron, then I passed out again.

***

I woke up in a room and thought the Dacarrons had been sent to bring me back below. One of them came to me with soup and spoon-fed it to me. I was grateful to have it. It had a taste to it that was unfamiliar to me. And the brightness. I remember they’d given me special dark glasses to wear because they feared the brightness of the sun would damage my eyes. I could still tell it was bright above ground, even with the glasses. But the glasses were gone. I didn’t have much strength, but I used what I had to sit up and stare at the brightness coming into the room and realized that I was still above ground

***

My first days were somewhat awkward. I didn’t know if I was a captive of these people or a guest. “My name is JC,” I said one day. My words brought a smile to the face of the man beside me.

“I am Chris and my husband is Joey.”

“Husband? You’re married? To a man?”

“Yes,” Chris replied as if he saw nothing odd about the arrangement.

At first I thought to study these people. They weren’t Dacarrons after all, I thought, because same sex marriages just were not permitted. I worried about radiation poisoning or some ill effects of the land, water or air upon me, but I quickly regained my health under the care of Chris and Joey.

Once I was feeling better, I followed them, watched them, and offered to help. I felt badly eating their food and giving nothing in return. I learned that they grew food in the ground, vegetables, and they had an orchard of trees bearing fruit. The showed me the animals they kept, the horses, goats, cows, chickens, dogs and cats. I was fascinated by them. I had never seen a living animal before. Chris and Joey took me for walks and showed me other animals that were wild, rabbits, deer, bear, bobcats, raccoons and birds in the sky. It was all so amazing to me. I wanted to touch everything, to study everything. My journal tablet had been lost with the Pod, but Chris and Joey gave me paper and writing utensils once I told them of my desire to draw and write about things.

They took me to the lake where they found me. They showed me how they captured fish from the waters. I liked going to the lake. It was enjoyable to walk across the water’s edge and watch the water surge. Chris called the water rolls ‘waves’ and talked about ‘tides’ rolling over the ‘sand’ on the ‘shore’. I liked to sit and watch the light of the sun bounce off of the water’s surface. I liked seeing things reflected in the water.

***

I learned about Chris and Joey. Their grandparents had been Dacarrons below ground, but were unhappy about how they were treated. They told me of this great revolt, how the Dacarrons had organized and talked about how they were treated by others, especially the Alphas. They wondered about the surface. It had been years since the last war and the only people saying the surface was a bad place were the Alphas and they had every reason to keep the Dacarrons in check, letting them do all the hard, laborious jobs that needed to be done so the Alphas could continue leading their easy, luxurious lives. That was why the Dacarrons felt they were so isolated, so separated from the Alphas, because if all Dacarrons knew how the Alphas lived, how easy and clean their lives were in comparison, then all Dacarrons would revolt. Some did. A group had escaped to the surface, including Chris and Joey’s grandparents.

They discovered freedom. They found that they didn’t die, but lived and lived well. Resources were now abundant. Animals roamed and swam and flew. Trees grew tall. And the sun rose and fell only to be followed by the moon and stars.

“They found the circle of life,” Chris said.

***

After a few days passed, Chris and Joey took me to the town where they traded. They had fruit from their orchard, vegetables from their fields and eggs from their chickens. We loaded the goods onto the horses and rode into town. I watched with fascination as they bartered for other items, including clothing for me! Sometimes they sold their goods outright for some chips they called credits. Down below credits were only numbers on a communication system screen. You were paid in credits and spent your credits and you could log in and watch your total credits fluctuate, but they were never a tangible thing to me. Here they were bits of metal pounded into chips of different sizes and weights. Coins. I saw them in a book. Chris and Joey each gave me a few coins, saying I could spend them if I wished. But I held onto them, to study them. I liked having something of value that I could hold in my hands. Something I could call my own.

***

I find that I like it here. I feel no illness in my body. The food here, grown in the ground, is more vibrant, more flavorful than what we manage to grow underground. And the water is sweeter. The water we have below has been reprocessed hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. Chris and Joey have a freshwater spring which bubbles forth behind their house. They have a well, too, and a water wheel and tower. It’s an amazing machine! The spring water bubbles past the wheel, turning it. The wheel has buckets which takes water up and dumps it into the water tower, which can also collect rain. If the tower is full, the excess water tumbles back down into the stream and flows through the pastures where the animals are kept, so they have fresh running water as well. And the wheel, as the water turns the wheel, they can get power from that as well. They’ve become clever, these Dacarrons above the ground.

***

I find that I don’t want to go back. Chris and Joey are good friends, good teachers and enjoyable company. We have begun adding another room to their living quarters, a private bedroom for me. I feel welcome here. I work hard and find that I enjoy it. The air here is fresh. I fear I would now find the air below unpleasant and unbreathable. The food, I can’t imagine having to eat the food below again. It is nothing compared to what is available here.

I have eaten meat for the first time in my life. I found that the soup they first fed me had an unfamiliar taste, because it was meat. It took a few days for my body to adjust to the new diet, but now I feel stronger and healthier than ever. I find myself hoping those below believe I am deceased. I hope they heard the emergency call and feared the surface was too dangerous. I will miss my friends. I have told so many stories of Lance and Justin to Chris and Joey to the point where they feel they know them. They understand my grief, but they are good friends, too. They have promised to help me try to communicate with the world below. I couldn’t help but laugh. They’re intentions are good, but it would take years for us to design any sort of communication device at all, let alone one that would be compatible.

I still enjoy sitting at the edge of the lake and watching the water roll and the reflections sparkle on the surface. It is peaceful there. A good place to think. And to remember.


	4. 4.0 Lance’s Notes

Our training is complete and the mission date has arrived. Justin and I are questioned by reporters. They ask us if we have any fears. Of course we tell them, no. Even if we had fears, we were told by MMC what we should and should not say to reporters. We are always to speak in confident terms. There is no fear, no hesitation, no doubt. We tell them we are certain we will find JC and will be able to retrieve him. All he needs is a few months in the decontamination chamber and all will be well. Secretly, Justin and I have discussed that it is too late. Even if he survived his emergency, he did not have enough food and water to survive this long. Justin asked why I still wanted to go. It’s because I must know. I must know what happened.

There’s a creepy feeling of déjà vu as we walk down the same carpeted concourse that JC took months ago. We’re in similar suits, however, these were made to protect us. They say these are improved. We approach our Pod. It was made the same time as the MMC Vision, only it’s larger. The MMC Vision had only room to carry two passengers. Our Pod, the MMC Traveler, was made to carry an entire research team of six. Justin is strapped into the Pilot seat, while I am strapped into the Navigator chair. 

We have no information from above to navigate by. But we have a tracking system. We can follow it back. No matter where we go, we can follow it back. And we have the data sent by JC, so we should be able to track his travels as well. Since the Internal Positioning Chips implanted at birth were only meant to track us below ground, Justin and I have been given advanced chips. There are not implanted, however. Rather they are part of our wrist communicator system. Lacking the foresight of ensuring that JC had an IPC that could communicate as well as the other data systems he used was a huge blow to MMC. Even the Pod could be tracked as long as the systems were on. Something had happened to the MMC Vision, though. It stopped sending locator beacons almost immediately after JC’s emergency calls, but at least we could track it to its last know location.

As JC had before us, we gave our thumbs up sign before they closed the hatch.

***

The first thing that strikes us is the bright sunlight. Future missions should take off when there is darkness above ground. Night, they used to call it. Justin continues to pilot the Pod as I watch the screen, matching our trajectory to the data from JC’s Pod.

“JC named his Pod ‘Kate’,” I mention to Justin. “Perhaps we should christen the Traveler with our own nickname as well.”

Justin patted the console before him. “I already named her, Mama.”

I smile because Justin loves his mama more than he loves anyone else. He is still young. It’s no wonder he wants to feel that his mama was with him on the trip. Shifting in my seat I think about my own family. I’m missing them as well.

Our journey is faster than JC’s. He moved slowly, gathering samples and observing the world around him. Our objective is altogether different. I note the side trips JC took and skip anything that isn’t a direct route to where the MMC Vision disappeared. My fingers grip at the arms of my seat. My heart is beating faster as we close the distance to the spot where JC went missing. I don’t know why. My brain tells me he won’t be there, but my heart refuses to give up. Closing my eyes, I pray that we find him miraculously alive and well. Justin can tell what’s running through my mind. His hand reaches for mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Justin nods. His confidence is palpable. “I feel it, too,” he says.“ He’s out there. Somewhere. And we will find him. This I promise you.”

***

Justin pilots the Traveler in the directions I tell him. We fly over much that is green. The plants here thrive now. The colors on the surface are amazingly vibrant. Captivating. The Pod lurches suddenly as Justin throttles it down.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Look at that.” He nods out the front window of the Pod. We both see it. A great body of water.

“His path, he went across it. He flew over it.”

“It looks dangerous. Why would he fly out over that?”

“I don’t know, but he did.”

“And then he vanished.” Justin pauses to view my screen. “Out there. He vanished into the water.”

Justin cautiously maneuvers the Pod over the water’s edge, barely moving. We hover closely as he pushes it a few feet more, then a few feet more. Then the Pod begins to act up, pitching about, and starts dropping toward the water. Fighting with the controls, Justin manages to get the Pod back over solid ground. “It’s the water. The Pods are not designed to fly over the water. Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s JC.”


	5. 5.0 JC’s Journal

The days come and go. Chris and Joey show me the stars at night, sparkling above like millions of jewels. I’ve read about such things and I’ve seen pictures, but it is nothing like seeing it first hand. I experience rain for the first time and Chris explains to me about his ‘cycle of life’ theories. The rains, he says, waters the plants, giving them life. The don’t get enough water from the spring and lake. Sometimes we see the white blotches in the sky that Chris calls ‘clouds’. He can look at them and tell if it will rain or not. I haven’t been able to master the difference. The rains sometimes are accompanied by ‘thunder’ and ‘lightening’, especially if they are fierce ‘storms’. I find myself wishing Lance were here, by my side, experiencing these things with me.

One day we’re out working in the field and we all hear the loud rumbling noises. Joey looks up, but there’s not a cloud in the sky. Chris already knows it’s not thunder. He looks at me. I look in the direction the sound is coming from. It sounds familiar. Chris and Joey have heard it before, too.

“The lake rumbles again,” says Joey.

Chris looks at me again. “That’s the noise we followed when we found you.”

“They have come looking for me. The Pod I flew sent back signals that they can track.”

“Perhaps you should go and meet with them.”

“I don’t want to go back,” I declare, my heart racing at the thought of being forced back down below.

Joey steps to my side and hugs me tightly. “If you don’t want to go back, we won’t let them take you. But you should let them know you have survived. Your friends, your family, they deserves to know.”

I can only nod back. Chris takes the first step toward the path to the lake then Joey and I follow.


	6. 6.0 Lance’s Notes

Justin and I both let out a sigh of relief when he’s regained control of the Pod. Part of me wants to follow JC’s path and urge Justin to fly out over the water, but I know he won’t. Instead he sets the Pod down gently, several feet from the water’s edge, and he stares out over the water, almost like he expects to see JC coming across the water toward us. I stare out over the water, too. 

I wonder about what influenced JC to fly out over this unstable body of water. I wonder what he was thinking about when he began losing control of his Pod. I imagine what it was like for him. He had been levelheaded, though. He managed to send out an emergency call, so he knew he was going down. He had lost control of his Pod.

“Do you think Pods can float?” I ask.

“They weren’t designed to float. Yet another shortcoming of the Engineers at MMC.” Justin sighs, showing his disappointment in the MMC Researchers and Engineering teams.

“They couldn’t foresee everything.”

“They should have known his IPC couldn’t be tracked up here. They should have thought to give him a stronger tracking device.”

“They did. The MMC Vision. Kate.”

“Yeah? Where’s the Pod now?”

“Probably on the bottom.”

Justin’s expression changes. “Do you think he’s still in it?”

I don’t even want to think about it, but I do wonder how deep the water is. It’s dark and murky, foreboding. With our eyes focused across the water, we didn’t notice anyone approaching the Pod. Not until one of them pounded at the hatch, causing Justin and I to jump from our seats.

“What is that?” Justin asks, quickly searching the monitors.

Then we see him. He’s thin and his hair is longer, lighter. There’s hair all over his face, too. He’s dressed in odd clothing, nothing like I’d ever seen before. But he’s smiling and his eyes are sparkling in the sunlight. It’s JC, standing in front of the Pod, waving at us.


	7. 7.0 JC’s Journal

When we arrive at the lake we can see the Pod a few feet from the water. It looks sort of like a small silver colored living quarters. There’s a door, so Chris walks over and pounds on it. I laugh, because that would have scared the crap out of me if I was in there. We weren’t certain whether any people had survived on the surface. We thought they’d be diseased and dangerous. Only to be approached with great caution and then only to study them, observe them. Whoever is in there, they’re from MMC, so I know them. I don’t want them to be scared so I walk in front of the viewing screen of the Pod and wave. I can’t believe my eyes. I swear it looks like Justin and Lance. Lance!

I motion for them to come out of the Pod, but they still look frightened. They’re checking me out, so I turn around slowly and give them the full view. I mouth the words ‘I’m fine’ to them and wonder why the Pod wasn’t designed with some sort of outside communication system. I can see they’re both wearing wrist communicators and point to my wrist. Justin understands. He takes his off and sends it out to me with the robotic arms meant to bring samples into the Pod.

**JC: Lance! Justin! It is so good to see you both.**   
**JC: It’s safe! You can come out.**   
**LB: What happened to you?**   
**LB: The Pod?**

I turn and look out over the water.

**JC: It sank.**   
**JC: The water was so beautiful.**   
**JC: I wanted to study it, observe it.**   
**JC: I was a good way over it when the Pod stalled out and fell.**   
**JC: It sank.**   
**JC: But I got out.**   
**JC: These are my new friends, Chris and Joey.**   
**JC: They found me and took care of me.**   
**JC: Come out and meet them!**   
**LB: Chris and Joey?**   
**LB: How do you know it’s safe?**   
**LB: How do you know THEY are safe?**   
**LB: What are you doing with them?**   
**JC: Look at me! I am well.**   
**JC: They took care of me.**   
**LB: They’re strangers!**   
**JC: They’re friends.**   
**JC: Please come out.**   
**JC: Please come to me.**

I can see them arguing inside the Pod. I know they’re concerned, but I wish they would trust me. I decide to send another message.

**JC: It hurts to be this close and not be able to touch you.**   
**JC: Please trust me.**   
**JC: I love you.**

Something changes in Lance. He doesn’t argue anymore, but heads toward the hatch. I can see Justin grab his arm, but Lance wrenches it away. He’s determined. I wait, focused on the Pod’s hatch until it finally opens and Lance steps out. I run to him. He’s totally encased in his protective suit, but I hug him and kiss him anyway. Or rather, I hug and kiss his suit.

Our eyes meet and we stare at each other for a long time. When I reach for his helmet, he tries to stop me, but I tell him it’s okay. “Trust me,” I say. Then he allows me to remove it and help him out of his suit. This time I can hug him for real and kiss him fully on his mouth.

“Why isn’t Justin coming out?” I ask.

“He’s going back,” Lance explains. “I have my wrist communicator. We’ll be able to communicate with the others. I told him that I rather stay up here with you than live without you below.”

“Now that you’re here, I want to ask you something.”

“Whether we thought you were dead? Our minds believed you were dead, but our hearts knew you were alive.”

I smile at him, because he’s so, so _Lance_. “I want to marry you.”

“We can’t. It’s not allowed.”

“It is up here. Chris and Joey are married.” I drop to my knees in the archaic ritual of marriage proposal. “Lance Bass, will you please marry me?”

Lance stares back at Justin, who looks confused, then at Chris and Joey who nod their approval.

“Yes,” he says quietly. “If it is allowed, then, yes, I will marry you.”

~~~END~~~  
08/04/08


End file.
